


Home for Dragons

by featheredschist



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon Typical Violence, Electrocution, Established Relationship, Happy Ending, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, Mystical bullshit, Noodle Dragons, blood mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 07:23:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15925637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/featheredschist/pseuds/featheredschist
Summary: During a long, exhausting battle, Hanzo’s dragons need a new, temporary(?) home. They make the only logical choice…





	Home for Dragons

**Author's Note:**

> From a tumblr prompt from NSFWMcHanzo: “McCree becoming a temporary host for the dragons mid-battle because Hanzo is too weak and losing consciousness. (They survive don’t worry) And afterwards when they get home, Jesse is passed out in medbay for at least an entire week because the dragons took a lot out of him, but he saved them both. Hanzo is so happy, especially because the dragons have deemed Jesse worthy and strong enough to become their temporary host. That’s how he knows he’s truly the one.” I took some liberties, but the essence is the same.

The battle with Talon and anti-Omnic gangs has run practically the length and breadth of the college town where one school had dared to open its doors to Omnic students. Overwatch responded to the college’s cry for help. It was all hands on deck, but they were spread thin, and tiring.

 

Hanzo had been perched on the roofs of the old homes, taking cover behinds chimneys and dormers*. But he’d been unseated by a well aimed RPG that took out the building. He was limping, heavily bruised and bleeding, shooting arrows at every enemy he encountered. Both arms felt like fire, muscles complaining the workload, and heavy use of the dragons. He was ably defended by McCree, who kept a steady arc of covering fire only a few feet away.

 

The dragons were out again, whipping through the enemy with barely any regard for their surroundings, toppling trees and light poles as they devoured their foes. Hanzo sighed between shots, using yet another scatter arrow.

 

“Y’k?” Jesse called.

 

“Yes just tiring. I do not think the dragons are going to be effective much longer,” Hanzo replied, reaching for another arrow. “Kuso,” he growled, finding the quiver at his back empty and his last spare laying wrecked in the ruins of the building he last perched on.

 

“Out a’ammo?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“All right, we’ll try to make it to one of the supply drops.”

 

Hanzo grunted, but not in response to Jesse’s words. “Jes,” he mumbled, body going numb in the wake of a poison dart shot from across the street.

 

“Han?” Jesse twisted his head around to look at his boyfriend. Stormbow clattered to the street caused Jesse to spin, just barely catching Hanzo around the chest as the archer’s knees gave out. “Hanzo!” Jesse called, easing the other man to the ground. 

 

Hanzo was out cold, limp in Jesse’s arms. Once he got his boyfriend as comfortable as possible on the ground, Jesse reached for his communicator. He wasn’t wearing the throat mic, just the ear wig, and was regretting it now. Tapping the channel button, he got the medical emergency line, “Mercy! We need ya downtown!”

 

“Jesse? What happened?” Angela Zeigler’s softly accented voice responded to the hail.

 

“Hanzo’s been hit, some kinda paralytic maybe? He’s unconscious.”

 

“How is his breathing?”

 

“Slow but steady.”

 

“All right, I need five minutes, can you manage?”

 

“No choice, Ang.”

 

“Good luck, cowboy.” The line went silent.

 

“Yeah, Ang, I’ll need all the luck,” Jesse grumbled. He looked around for a defensible position to protect Hanzo from. An alley with no other exit was twenty feet too far, but Jesse had no choice. He picked Hanzo up in a bridal carry and quickly made for the dubious protection afforded by the alley.

 

There was a dumpster that, once he settled Hanzo against one of the walls, Jesse moved to the front of the alley to give some cover to his partner. He took a knee beside the steel container, able to look up and down the street for any sign of Talon.

 

He forgot one other thing.

 

The dragons that Hanzo had loosed minutes before he had joined Jesse on the street had circled an area about four blocks wide, clearing out Talon agents and anti-Omnic gangsters.

 

These spirits took life force whenever they were deployed in battle, stripping humans and Omnics alike of what most called a soul, leaving behind lifeless husks. With trust and training, Hanzo could help them differentiate friend from foe. In the first months of Hanzo joining Overwatch, there were several close calls with the dragons. At least three times Angela had had to deploy life saving measures on team members caught in the power of the dragons. 

 

One had even been Jesse, smack in the middle of the charge Hanzo had made to drastically reduce the number of opponents. Hanzo had watched, horror stricken, as the dragons flew through Jesse’s body, causing the cowboy to seize and collapse like his bones had melted. Angela had to rush to his side with a portable defibrillator Lena had retrieved from the Orca.

 

An ill advised first accident had occurred with Reinhardt, who had gotten too close in his enthusiasm. That accident had been less dramatic in terms of Rein’s heart giving out. His armor had acted as a Faraday Cage and shunted the overload into his shield generator. His lion like mane of white hair had crackled and flashed for an hour with the extra spiritual energy.

 

Jesse, on the other hand, had needed the AED, and a week in the med bay when they got back on base. And Torbjorn had had to increase the layers of EMP hardening in Jesse’s arm and armor. The Swedish inventor also took the trouble to do the same for everyone else who wore any kind of armor. It was during Jesse’s recovery that he and Hanzo broke the awkward ice between them and became friends. Six months after that, they started dating.

 

The dragons finished their attack and came around to find Hanzo, and ‘return home’ to the extra dimensional space magicked into the ink the Shimada dragon bearers wore. But there was no Hanzo. They could see him on the ground, but could not sense his usual mental ‘grumpiness’ and focus. Briefly, they panicked, flying away from each other, only to come back together in a knot of frustration and not a little fear. With a rumble, one turned out of the knot and saw Jesse McCree kneeling in the shadow of the dumpster. It chirped at its sibling, who rolled through the air and weaved itself around the other. They held a lightning fast conversation and came to a decision.

 

Flying so close together their whiskers tangled, the pair of electric blue dragons dove for McCree’s tense form. They hit like a freight train, lighting up Jesse’s body with a pale halo of blue fire. It was only easier for having burned across his synapses once, lik the accident had cleared a path.

 

Jesse screamed, the sound echoing with two additional deep roars.

 

Angela, flying over the building to reach them, stutters in the air, dropping a few feet in shock at Jesse’s appearance. She has no chance to help, not with Hanzo down from an unknown poison. Time was against her. 

 

“Lucio, I need your help!”, she called down the open comm line as she landed next to Hanzo’s prone form. He was barely breathing, and Angela could see the faint twitching as though he wanted to move.

 

The scream faded and there was a thump as Jesse collapsed from the strain. Angela focused on Hanzo, putting Jesse to the back of her worried mind.

 

Lucio appeared in a shower of sparks, gravel and bass notes as he caromed off a nearby wall. “Angela, give me a run down!”, he called to the doctor. She told him what she knew, and Lucio got to work to stabilize the cowboy.

  
  


Hanzo regained conscious, finding himself in the med bay. Genji was there, sitting beside his bed, faceplate off.

 

“Genji,” Hanzo rasped, mouth dry.

 

“You’re awake,” Genji sounded relieved, as he reached for a covered cup and straw on the bedside table. He brought it to his brother and held the straw for Hanzo to sip from. When Hanzo had enough, he let the straw fall from his mouth and he relaxed back into the bed. “Angie says the poison was relatively easy to counteract, but she’s going to keep you for another day or two to make sure there are no lingering side effects. And before you ask, Jesse is just over there,” Genji pointed off to Hanzo’s right, causing him to slowly turn his head.

 

“Why?” Hanzo didn’t get to finish his question before Genji continued.

 

“Your dragons are with him right now. Angie and Lucio are watching him carefully since his heart can’t stabilize.”

 

Hanzo was frightened by this information. To their knowledge, no one outside of a born Shimada could carry the dragons. That Jesse lay six feet away from Hanzo, still breathing, if by ventilator, and harboring BOTH of Hanzo’s spirit dragons, spoke to some unknown power the cowboy had to have.

 

“I’ve tried asking AoAo*, but she is not being helpful,” Genji added. No, his dragon was caught up in laughing at how ‘perfect’ the situation was. He had an idea what that meant, but was currently at a loss as to how to confirm the information.

 

Angela appeared at the curtained doorway to the shared room. “Oh good, you’re awake. How do you feel?”, she asked, striding with authority to his bedside between his and Jesse’s bed. He can still see his lover, which reassured him.

 

“Lethargic,” is his monotone reply.

 

“Too be expected. The paralytic poison is largely gone from your body, and now we need to monitor that everything returns to normal functioning,” she explained, looking over at his IV before checking his pulse. Her advanced machines did mos too the work, but there were a few things she preferred to do in a hands-on, age-old method. Nodding satisfaction as she confirmed what all her monitoring devices said, she asked, “Any questions?”, like the most obvious wasn’t currently the elephant in the room.

 

Genji shifted in his chair on the left side of Hanzo’s bed, worried.

 

The silence is broken by Jesse, gasping as electric blue light exploded around him in a crackling nimbus. Hanzo gasped in surprise, causing Angela to spin and run to Jesse’s side to see what she could do.

 

“Genji,  help me,” Hanzo growled, struggling to sit up.

 

“Hanzo,” Genji protested.

 

“Help me,” he growled again, forcing his legs off the side of the bed.

 

“Angela!”, Genji called, hoping she could get some sense into his brother. She couldn’t do anything further to Jesse without risking more harm to him, so she turned back to the brothers.

 

“Hanzo, you can’t get out of bed right now!”, she tried to force him back down until he glared at her, a snarl on his lips.

 

She growled in response, frustrated, but let him have his way. 

 

Genji slung one of Hanzo’s arms over his shoulders and then held on as Hanzo shuffled across the room to the far side of Jesse’s bed where another chair sat. Once settled, Hanzo reached for Jesse’s right hand.

 

“Genji, go to our roo and find the black tablet marked with our kamon*. It should be under the bed in the safe,” Hanzo instructed his brother, giving the passcode for the safe in Japanese.

 

“And what will I find on this tablet?”, Genji asked, moving to the curtain.

 

“Everything the clan had on the history of our dragons. There is one ritual I might need that should help.”

 

“I’ll be right back.”

 

“Angela, shortly time will be of the essence,” Hanzo explained to her. “Jesse may not survive this possession if I cannot help him. It has never been proved medically sound, you’ve said so yourself. The dragons resist all attempts at being studied. Only the more scholarly members of our family ever got anywhere with them.” He reached over to Jesse’s face, and rubbed his fingers along his hairline. The ongoing nimbus enveloped Hanzo’s hands where he was in contact with Jesse. “I need to try and reach out to my bonded pair and see if they will leave Jesse without interference from that ritual.”

 

“What can I do?”, Angela asked.

 

“The best thing is monitoring Jesse,” Hanzo looked over the too still form of his boyfriend. “His heart may yet give out.” It was not something Hanzo was prepared for, but it was a reality that loomed nevertheless.

 

“Let me get some equipment, and call Lucio.” Angela left them alone, Hanzo leaning over Jesse and mumbling endearments.

 

Within twenty minutes, everyone was gathered, and Hanzo had found the relevant ritual he hoped to not need. He settled himself as close as possible to the bed, still holding Jesse’s flesh hand. 

 

With a change to a slower style of breathing, Hanzo entered a meditative state and sought out the connection to his dragons. He approached the glowing braids, grateful they shone so brightly in health and strength. He touched each strand and immediately got pulled into a sub-plane where the dragons were holding court with Jesse.

 

Tomo was coiled up apart from Kenji, who hovered in a small, cat like size in front of Jesse.

 

Hanzo stopped next to Tomo to speak with him. “What happened?”

 

The dragons don’t speak in words so much as images. And what Tomo sent him about their decision to possess the cowboy sends Hanzo to his knees.

 

The dragons had readily accepted the relationship the two men fostered between them, from the rocky, distrustful start, to a budding friendship, to when they finally fell into bed together, admitting how they felt about one another. The dragons were ecstatic, releasing themselves from Hanzo’s tattoo to make the acquaintance of the person that helped heal other wounds of the heart that Hanzo’s brother couldn’t touch. Jesse had been enamoured of the dragons right from the start. He’d never had a chance to get close to Genji’s during their first time in Overwatch, but had admired the great spirit whenever he saw her. Hanzo’s pair enjoyed their playtime whenever he was relaxed, making it much easier to befriend them.

 

More images told the story of what happened on the battlefield from their perspective. Tomo had made the choice to take shelter in Jesse when neither dragon could sense Hanzo. He was taken aback by this. The dragons could, theoretically survive without being hosted in Hanzo’s tattoo, but they had never done any protracted ‘tests’ on what might happen if he were rendered unconscious before they returned home. The blankness had frightened them both, and drained but filled with energy from their attacks, they had done the only thing either of them could think of, harboring in their master’s mate.

 

There was a problem though, Tomo explained. Jesse’s own spiritual ability, the DeadEye, was in conflict with the dragons. They couldn’t say where DeadEye came from, but it fought them. Kenji was currently embroiled with it. Tomo explained through more pictures that they didn’t think Hanzo was well enough for them to return. 

 

Hanzo balked at that.  “You may be killing him,” he said. Tomo replied that Jesse was strong, strong enough to bear both dragons along with the DeadEye.

 

“No, enough. Come back to me at once,” Hanzo snapped, ire rising in a wave.

 

Kenji was thrown through the air as the spirit Jesse snarled in anger. There are no words, just animalistic noises. Tomo flies up and away from Hanzo to confront Jesse. Hanzo is faster, somehow. He looked over this form of his lover. Yes it is familiar, but there is a cruelty, a darkness settled into the beloved face of the man Hanzo knows. He locked eyes to the ones glaring red from Jesse’s beautiful face. 

 

“So you are DeadEye,” he said quietly, voice full of violent promise.

 

The thing masquerading as his lover snarled again, and something pushed at Hanzo. He simply shifted with it, and never loses an inch.

 

“I am different than the dragons. You will leave them and Jesse alone, as this arrangement is temporary.”

 

The specter growled again, and tried to lift Jesse’s hands to hurt Hanzo. Except it’s stopped before it can so much as clench any muscles.

 

From everywhere and nowhere is Jesse’s voice, echoing, “No.”

 

Hanzo grinned. “Jesse, I am here. You are not alone, never alone. DeadEye does not own you. It is your tool.”

 

“Hanzo,” is a much softer echo, wrapped in the steel of Jesse’s will. “Hurts,” even softer.

 

“I know koibito, I know. It is temporary while I heal from the poison.”

 

“All right,” and the angry visage before him changed easily to the softer, lighter one of his beloved. “Thank you,” Jesse murmurs as his eyes close and his form slowly fades away.

 

Hanzo sighed and turned to the dragons. There was no sign of damage that Hanzo could see, but there was no time to do a thorough check. “Are you well?”, he asked them. The dragons nodded, and Hanzo sighed again, glad that that fight hadn’t really been one. “One more day,” he made them promise before he dismissed himself from their presence and pulled himself out of the meditative state.

 

Genji, Angela, and Lucio were all there, expectant looks on their faces.

 

“It was not as bad as I feared,” he told them.

 

Genji released a cloud of steam from his shoulder ports in relief.

 

“What happened?” Angela asked. Her machines had registered a brief spike of adrenaline before smoothing out and Jesse had visibly relaxed. The light show had dimmed and disappeared by the time Hanzo came back to full consciousness.

 

“Jesse is a very strong individual,” was all Hanzo said before he wilted from the strain.

 

“Hanzo!”, Genji leapt for his brother, the tablet launched at Lucio, who barely had time to catch it. Hanzo slumped over the side of Jesse’s bed, exhausted. Genji gathered him up to take him back to his own bed. Hanzo didn’t fight him on that.

 

Angela bustled over, and helped settle Hanzo back into bed.

 

“Genji,” Hanzo breathed, nearly asleep. “Keep watch.”

 

“Of course.”

  
  
  


Genji was as good as his word, sitting between both beds, reading from the black Shimada tablet Hanzo had requested. It was a font of information on the history of the dragons that Genji had never cared about. However, this situation was so unreal, he found a newly awakened curiosity about everything regarding the great spirits. 

 

Twelve hours after Hanzo’s spirit walk, both men came around. Genji commed Angela, who appeared as Hanzo sat up, rubbing his face. Jesse still lay prone, but had laid his flesh arm over his eyes to block out the brightness of the overhead lamp Genji had been reading by.

 

“Jesse?” Hanzo looked to his lover.

 

“M’fine,” he grunted in reply.

 

“No, you’re not,” Angela said, appearing at his side, “You’ve been unconscious for three days, and in a medically induced coma for the four before that. Your heart has taken quite a beating, and frankly I’m surprised you’re lucid right now.” She checked the machines and then grabbed a pen light from her coat pocket. She reached for his arm, tapping it to get him to move it. Jesse grunted again, wordlessly, but moved the arm, obliging her desire to check his eyes. “The right is a little red, but pupillary reactions are normal. Any visual disturbance?”

 

“No.”

 

“Jesse.”

 

“S’true, Angie.”

 

“All right,” she sighed. “This time was too close, Jess. I’m keeping you for at least another two days,”

 

“Two!” Jesse exclaimed.

 

“You just woke up! Don’t even try. It wasn’t a bullet wound this time, you stubborn mule!” Angela spun away from Jesse to attend to Hanzo, who only looked like he’d just woken up from a good night’s sleep. He wisely said nothing about the tears shimmering in her eyes. “I’ll have Lucio come take some blood so we can further check your recovery Hanzo,  but it looks good,” she told him, grateful he said nothing. She left the three of them alone after another few minutes of fussing.

 

Hanzo slipped out of bed and went to Jesse, “Koiishi, that was an unreal experience. Do you remember anything?” He sat, picking at the blanket covering Jesse, unable to meet his eyes.

 

“Some, I think. The dart. You’re okay?” Hanzo nodded in reassurance. “Good. Heard your dragons, then felt like I was being electrocuted. Heard your voice in my head, then woke up,” Jesse shrugged. “M’arm’s missing. Was it damaged?”

 

Genji piped up from the other side of the bed, “We deemed it a better idea to remove it with the electrical danger.”

 

“Electrical?” Jesse was very confused.

 

“The dragons became confused after I passed out from the poison, and needed a safe harbor,” Hanzo spoke in a tight, emotionless voice, eyes on his hands, “they chose you.”

 

“Ya mean?” Jesse stuttered, his right hand coming up to his heart. “Wow. Genji, didn’t you tell me that no one not a part of y’all’s family could do that?”

 

“So we believed,” Genji agreed. “However, in reading some of the historical accounts from clan members, it seems possible for a ‘worthy individual’ to host a Shimada dragon. It does not even hint at being temporary, or permanent.”

 

“Are they?” Jesse pressed his hand to his chest, flattening the fabric of the hospital gown.

 

“For now,” Hanzo admitted. “They swear to return to me after whatever measure of myself balances out from the dart, but,” he shrugged. “The problem was apparently your DeadEye,” he finally added.

 

Jesse’s mouth opened and closed a few times, in an ‘o’ of surprise. “Never thought that was an active thing when I wasn’t using it,” he quietly admitted. “The boys okay?”

 

“Yes they are.”

 

Lucio opened the door then, with a short knock on the edge of the frame. “Hey guys! McCree, good to see you awake cara*! Hanzo, Angela tells me she needs to run some blood to check on how you’re doing?”. He’s as upbeat as usual, crossing the room on his skates, phlebotomy tray in one hand. Hanzo nodded and Lucio set his tray down on the rolling table and got to work.

 

Within minutes, he was done, taping down a small wad of cotton over the draw site. “There, that’s done. We’ll run the tests as quick as possible and get back to you, all right? Need anything?” Lucio slapped tracking stickers to each of the four vials, and placed them in the tray.

 

Hanzo said, “No, thank you. Maybe some tea later.” Lucio nodded and left the trio alone once more. 

 

Silence descended for awhile, cocooning the room in a bubble, at least, until Jesse began glowing again.

 

“McCree!” Genji near-shouted as the aura reached visible levels.

 

“Holy shit!” Jesse exclaimed, hand clenching in the blankets. There was no seizure this time, just the shifting blues of translucent light.

 

“Genji, give me the tablet. It seems we need…” Hanzo began, only to trail off into silence as the glow brightened. It became strong enough to be nearly blinding.

 

Jesse shouted from surprise.

 

Angela and Lucio appeared in the doorway, drawn by the brightness.

  
  


As the glow dimmed, everyone noticed the presence of two ethereal looking Japanese dragons. They hovered above Jesse, wavering slightly in a non-existent breeze. One focused on Hanzo, and zipped over to chitter at him, at turns admonishing then entreating, then apologetic.

 

The other remained with Jesse, drifting down to settle in his lap and purr. Jesse reached out and the little dragon ducked his head under the questing fingers.

 

“Kenji, you’re okay,” he murmured repetitively, petting the dragon as he would a cat.

 

“Tomo,” Hanzo said to the dragon still chattering. “You are okay, so is Jesse, so am I. Enough.” It was not quite an order, but Tomo stopped long enough to wrap around Hanzo’s neck like a scaly necklace and tried not to hug too tight.

 

“Good to see the little noodles are safe,” Jesse said, looking over to Hanzo.

 

“Oh goodness,” Angela broke in, “What next? Jesse, we’ll need to do some tests now that they’ve left you.” Lucio nodded beside her.

 

Jesse only sighed at the inevitability of being kept in Medical longer than he wanted. Genji grinned at his discomfiture. It was an old song and dance. The medics left again once they finished a visual check of their charges.

 

The dragons eventually changed places, inspecting their favored humans.

 

“If you don’t need me anymore, I’ll leave you two alone for now?” Genji said, standing from the chair between the two beds.

 

“Genji?” Hanzo asked.

 

Genji smiled before replacing his faceplate and turning to grab the chair he’d sat in to move it out of the way. He then went to the controls on Hanzo’s bed, complying with the silent request to have the two beds moved together. Both men thanked the cyborg and he waved them off, departing.

  
  
  


After a few hours, Angela came back to them, finding the pair cuddling together as best they could in the separate mattresses. The two dragons were curled up with them.

 

Tests could wait. She let them be.

**Author's Note:**

> “Y’k” should be pronounced like “Ya’k”, which isn’t a proper Southern-ism as far as I’m aware.
> 
> I need to learn the coding to get the accents on things like Lucio’s name, and so on...
> 
> AoAo - from Eudict.com it is supposed to mean ‘bright green’, but I’ll take a correction!
> 
> Hanzo’s dragons are named in this fic as named by his VA.
> 
> Camarada - again, Eudict.com, and it says “Comrade/friend” from Portuguese. Also will take a correction on this one, since I’m reasonably sure that Brazilian Portuguese is different now. - ETA: A commenter suggested I use “Cara” for ‘dude’, which seems more in line with how Lucio addresses his friends. I left the original note to signify the change.
> 
> Kamon - emblems used to decorate and identify an individual, a family, or (more recently) an institution or business entity. While mon is an encompassing term that may refer to any such device, kamon and mondokoro refer specifically to emblems used to identify a family. I take this to mean the image of the two dragons chasing each other’s tails to be the Shimada Kamon.
> 
> I wouldn’t worry too much about the mystical ‘woo’ stuff - I pulled it out of the air after decades of reading high fantasy.
> 
> Might have missed a note, let me know!


End file.
